Palladium‐Catalyzed C(sp3)?H Activation: A Facile Method for the Synthesis of 3,4‐Dihydroquinolinone Derivatives

3,4‐Dihydroquinolinones were synthesized by the palladium‐catalyzed, oxidative‐addition‐initiated activation and arylation of inert C(sp³) H bonds. Pd(OAc)₂ and P(o‐tol)₃ were used as the catalyst and ligand, respectively, to improve the efficiency of the reaction. A further advantage of this reaction is that it could be performed in air. A relatively rare seven‐membered palladacycle was proposed as a key intermediate of the catalytic cycle.     

A silver(I)-catalyzed reaction of 2-alkynylbenzaldoxime with arylsulfonyl chloride

A silver-catalyzed reaction of 2-alkynylbenzaldoxime with arylsulfonyl chloride proceeds smoothly at room temperature to afford 4-tosyloxyisoquinolines in moderate to good yields. Additionally, the resulting 4-tosyloxyisoquinolines could be further elaborated through palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions leading to diverse isoquinolines.     

Electroformed Giant Vesicles from a Binary Mixture of Phospholipids and Quaternary Ammonium Salts

In this article, positively charged GVs were electroformed in a binary system of quaternary ammonium salts and egg phosphatidylcholine (EggPC) under an alternative current (AC) electric field. The diameter and charge density of the GVs is controlled by doping suitable cationic quaternary ammonium molecules into the EggPC bilayer. By developing positively charged GVs, there will be expanded the applications for phospholipids vesicles, especially the investigation of charge-induced interactions between cationic lipid membranes and macromolecules, such as colloidal particles or proteins.     

Complete and generalized synchronization in a class of noise perturbed chaotic systems

In the paper, in light of the LaSalle-type invariance principle for stochastic differential equations, chaos synchronization is investigated for a class of chaotic systems dissatisfying a globally Lipschitz condition with noise perturbation. Sufficient criteria for both complete synchronization and generalized synchronization are rigorously established and thus successfully applied to realize chaos synchronization in the coupled unified chaotic systems. Furthermore, concrete examples as well as their numerical simulations are provided to illustrate the possible application of the established criteria.     

Monolithic 160 Gbit/s optical time-division multiplexer

We present the design and experimental characterization of a monolithic optical time-division multiplexer (MUX) for 160 Gbit/s operation based on periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguides. Its key figures of merit agree well with theoretical predictions and meet or exceed those of a previously demonstrated PPLN-planar-light-wave-circuit hybrid MUX. The monolithic design has a simpler layout and higher efficiency while keeping the cross talk low.     

Disappearance of modes in planar Bragg waveguides

We show how the forbidden bands of a Bragg reflector may shrink to points and how some classes of the guided modes of a planar Bragg waveguide may disappear altogether by shrinking with the forbidden bands. We derive the general conditions to determine the missing modes and explain these conditions with examples. It is possible, for example, to design a Bragg waveguide that rejects all antisymmetric modes and supports only symmetric modes for the TE polarization. We also highlight the effect of Brewster incidence on the interpretation of the missing modes for the TM polarization.     

Singularities of Berry connections inhibit the accuracy of the adiabatic approximation

Adiabatic approximation for quantum evolution is investigated addressing its dependence on the Berry connections that are functions of a slowly-varying parameter R  . When the Berry connections have singularities of type 1/Rσ$1/R^{\sigma }$ with σ<1$\sigma <1$, the adiabatic fidelity converges to unit according to a power-law; When the singularity index σ becomes larger than one, adiabatic approximation breaks down. Two-level models are used to substantiate our theory.     

Synergic Enhancement of High-density Polyethylene through Ultrahigh Molecular Weight Polyethylene and Multi-flow Vibration Injection Molding: A Facile Fabrication with Potential Industrial Prospects

General-purpose plastics with high strength and toughness have been in great demand for structural engineering applications. To achieve the reinforcement and broaden the application scope of high-density polyethylene(HDPE), multi-flow vibration injection molding(MFVIM) and ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene(UHMWPE) are synergistically employed in this work. Herein, the MFVIM has better shear layer control ability and higher fabrication advantage for complex parts than other analogous novel injection molding technologies reported.The reinforcing effect of various filling times and UHMWPE contents as well as the corresponding microstructure evolution are investigated.When 5 wt% UHMWPE is added, MFVIM process with six flow times thickens the shear layer to the whole thickness. The tensile strength and modulus increase to 2.14 and 1.39 times, respectively, compared to neat HDPE on the premise of remaining 70% impact strength. Structural characterizations indicate that the enhancement is attributed to the improvement of shish-kebab content and lamellae compactness, as well as related to the corresponding size distributions of undissolved UHMWPE particles. This novel injection molding technology with great industrial prospects provides a facile and effective strategy to broaden the engineering applications of HDPE materials. Besides, excessive UHMWPE may impair the synergistic enhancement effect, which is also reasonably explained.     

Cationic and temperature-sensitive liposomes loaded with eugenol for the application to silk

Silk has been widely used in the clothing industry due to their soft and smooth features, good biocompatibility, good heat dissipation, warmth and ultraviolet resistance. The application of fragrance to silk can significantly improve the performance of silk. However, there are two key scientific problems that need to be solved: slowing down the release rate of fragrances and increasing the scent lasting time of silk. In this study, cationic and temperature-sensitive liposomes were designed and prepared to encapsulate eugenol. These fragrance-loaded liposomes significantly slowed down the release rate of the fragrance and controlled the release rate of the fragrance in a thermo-sensitive manner. The liposomes adhered to the silk through electrostatic adsorption interaction. The positive charge on the fragrance-loaded liposomes neutralized much negative charge on silk and thereby increasing the adhesion efficiency.